After college, Ringo worked in the
petrochemical industry for 22 years, over half of that time as a union leader. Many of his relatives lived just beyond the fence from these industries, so he saw the impacts of pollution from
refineries first hand. He noted that employees at the refinery wore masks and protective clothing, but that the neighbors across the fence, who were predominantly poor and black, received no such protection, and suffered disproportionately high levels of cancers and
respiratory diseases. Eventually, Ringo decided to help educate the people in communities affected by petrochemical pollution, teaching them how to effectively stop the discharge of chemicals into neighborhoods around refineries, leading to the beginning of his
environmental activism. Ringo began his environmental activism in 1991, by becoming member of the Calcasieu League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN), an affiliate of the
Louisiana Wildlife Federation. Among the 20,000 members of the statewide group, he was the first African American ever to join. Rather than trying to shut refineries and chemical plants down, he advocated the
lobbying of state legislators on environmental laws, and encouraged citizens to show up at public hearings, where, as a community, they could express their fears and concerns and speak truth to power. Ringo was transferred to
Malaysia, and during one of his return trips to the United States in 1994, he was offered early retirement. After accepting the offer, he committed his life to full-time work on behalf of people beyond the refinery fences lines. In 1998, he was the sole African-American delegate at the
Global Warming Treaty negotiations in
Kyoto, Japan, where he delivered an address. He also spoke at the Central American conference on sustainable development in
Belize City, Belize. He addressed many historically-Black colleges and other universities, including the
University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment and at the
University of Oregon's
Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.
Apollo Alliance As president of the Apollo Alliance, Ringo was working to educate the public and lobby in Washington, D.C. about the need to invest in alternative clean-energy sources, energy-efficient technology and jobs by building diverse coalitions. The Apollo Alliance seeks to reinvest in the competitiveness of American industry, rebuild cities, create good jobs, and ensure good stewardship of the economy and natural environment. "We are an organization that looks like the face of America," Ringo said. The name of the alliance was chosen to pay homage to
John F. Kennedy's
Apollo program, which successfully put a man on the moon in 1969. The Apollo Alliance has been endorsed by leaders of the
AFL–CIO, the
Sierra Club,
Greenpeace USA, the National Wildlife Federation, the
Union of Concerned Scientists, the
NAACP and other activist groups.
National Wildlife Federation In 1996, Ringo was elected to serve on the board of directors of the
National Wildlife Federation, a seventy-year-old
conservation organization comprising 4.5 million members and over 700 employees. Since becoming chairman of the board in 2005, Ringo sought to further the NWF's partnerships with other organizations, particularly those involved with combating ecological dangers in poor and minority neighborhoods. He spearheaded programs that reach into urban and minority communities, including schoolyard habitat programs such as
Earth Tomorrow, which focuses on minority kids in elementary, middle, and high schools. "The single greatest issue for me as an environmentalist is climate change," Ringo told
Mother Jones in 2005. Ringo envisioned a new movement in environmentalism, where everyone becomes involved in planning for the future together. He believed that real success, in energy security,
public health,
environmental protection and
social justice, will come when environmentalists are united and empowered to meet as equals with corporate interests.
Zoetic Global Ringo founded Zoetic Global to address issues such as energy security in the developing world. Zoetic secured a
power purchase agreement with
Ghana in January 2016. He promoted hydrokinetic technology to ministers and leaders of countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. ==References==